ATF director tells Congress of "smoking gun"

By: Chris Scholl
Topics: Law and Order

CBS/AP

Congressional investigators say acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson told them documents he reviewed convinced him reports about gunwalking were true.

Melson testified that he initially didn't believe CBS' original reports exposing the allegations that ATF allowed thousands of high-powered weapons to cross into Mexico. But Melson told investigators when he reviewed documents relating to one specific case, he found what he called "a smoking gun." According to a partial transcript of Melson's testimony to Congressional investigators, "interdiction could have occurred, and probably should have occurred, but did not occur."

According to Rep. Darell Issa (R-CA) and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) who've been investigating the gunwalking controversy, Melson told them he turned his findings over to the Department of Justice's Deputy Attorney General, James Cole.

However, Melson was sharply critical of the DOJ's response to news reports about the allegations and investigations by Congress. "The Department is really trying to find a way to push the information away from their political appointees."

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by gi_methetruth July 19, 2011 7:28 AM EDT: Can't think of anything more cruel, instead of really helping this troubled countries (Mexico and Central America); our government does the opposite and creates even more chaos with evil 'operations' such as "fast & furious" and "cast-away", etc.
What ever happened to the U.S. being the last 'beacon of hope'?, we were supposed to set the example between right and wrong. It is up to us people to do the right thing and demand that our government act with fairness and humanity towards others poor countries!; Reply to this comment


by OIF_to_USC July 18, 2011 11:25 PM EDT: Now, this is the biggest fiasco yet out of the corrupt Obama administration. First, in 2009 the Hillary State Department stands next to the president of Mexico and claims that American guns are pouring into the armories of the Mexican drug cartels and causing all of the gang violence that Mexico has been experiencing. When it was proven that cartel guns are stolen or purchased from corrupt Mexican Army or police, or purchased in bulk from Venezuela, the Obama administration conspires with the Holder led Justice Department to instruct BATFE to initiate Operation Gun Runner to funnel as many guns into Mexico as possible to make the illusion believable. The administration hoped to create a phony illegal gun epidemic in order to impose new gun control laws to pacify the anti-2nd Amendment voters before the elections. The plan blew up in their faces when two U.S. federal agents were killed with some of BATFE's Operation Gun Runner weapons by Mexican gangs. Eric Holder and Barack Obama then order ATF Director Kenneth Melson to report to the U.S. House of Representatives investigative sub-committee and obediently fall on his sword. Instead, Melson brings his personal attorney and tells the whole sordid story to the world. Other BATFE personnel are doing the same thing. Even Watergate didn't unfold this fast. Sadly though, the driving force behind this story is not the mainstream media, rather it is alternative media, some of whom I have never heard of before. Incredibly, Obama is still going forward and implementing his planned gun control by administrative fiat even though the whole country knows that he and Holder conspired the whole phony gun running epidemic.; Reply to this comment